Holder Series: The Dark Fire Guardian
by Rasgnarok
Summary: They were not human. The battered azure backed away from the man, quills raised by instinct as he argued between fighting or running. The man walked closer, a maniac grin on his face. His eyes were a reptilian green. He was not normal. Sonic knew this man was not human. He couldn't be human.
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya everybody! This is the next episode of the Holder Series: yay! Anyway, I may finish it this month, so I'll upload faster than before. Maybe even faster when I'm done with Perfection (though there will be a few sequels).**

**Sorry if this prologue is crappy, but you have to reason with me plz! I had to make some research for this ep, and it may be more developed than the last ones. And I couldn't do the front page thing yet, since I uploaded from IPad. I'm computer grounded; I can't use my comp without my mother or father watching so sorry!**

**PS: Starkage, I'll add you in the credits for now on, and you will/should know why!**

**Let's get on with the story, shall we?**

* * *

The afternoon sun glowed dully above the GUN quarters as Shadow the Hedgehog walked casually inside the building. The Ultimate Lifeform ignored the sideways glances the personnel gave him; after all, he was a anthropomorphic hedgehog among humans, a Mobian in a Humans's World.

Shadow's rapid walk led him to a massive glass and metal door, which he pushed aside. His ruby eyes met a pair of aquamarine ones. They belonged to a buxom white bat, wearing some kind of tight black suit with white sleeve gloves and high heels with a pink metal heart on their top. She had a breast plate, which was also shaped like a heart. It was pink. Her name was Rouge the Bat, master thief and stealth member of Team Dark.

Besides the bat stood a large mechanical contraption. It was a robot painted red and black, with massive claws and pupiless blood red eyes. It was as tall as a human, and maybe taller. Greek symbols were imprinted on the bot's shoulder. It was Omega, muscle of Team Dark.

"Rouge. Omega" Shadow greeted, red eyes blazing with anger -which was restrained, but barely- when he spotted a human with both a brown and a blue eye. The man was wearing a military uniform, and his grey hair suggested he was old. Strangely, even with his old age this human had more muscles than a boxing champion.

"Commander Towers, why did you ask for us?" The Ultimate Lifeform said slowly, barely stopping himself from growling. He may work for him, but its sure as hell the only thing he wanted was to gut the man and beat him up so bad even his mother wouldn't recognize him.

He could wonder, how could he forgive the guy? It was his fault Maria was dead, his fault Gerald went to the brink of insanity, to later die electrocuted on a electric chair. Shadow praised the impressive patience he developed from being around the Faker, since without that he would have killed Towers and be chased around the globe by GUN for that. Not that he was scared, he is the Ultimate Lifeform after all...

Yep, the only thing he could do was skulk like a kid who got grounded.

The source of his anger got up from his chair and, still glaring at Shadow, spoke blankly, turning around to activate a massive Tv. The electric appliance showed a circular symbol with lots of small rune-like drawings inside of it. In the middle of the circle was painted a triangle.

"I have a mission for you three, listen well." The Commander...errr...commanded (had to make this joke), tapping the screen of the tv, looking at the symbol with a hatred that seemed to match his toward Shadow.

"For years GUN fought terrorists groups all around the globe, as you should know. There is, however, an organization we are in constant fight. It's named The Circle. It specializes in biological weapons for the most parts, and they hold no respect for life." The Commander explained, eyes narrowing when Shadow gave out a chuckle.

"Like somebody I know..." The black hedgehog devil whispered to himself, which was ignored by his superior.

The Commander sighed. Last thing Towers wanted was a fights with the Ultimate Lifeform, even if he though he could win; humans were always superior to theses..._animals_...

Rouge shushed her partner just as the Commander continued, switching the image on the screen. It now showed a dozens of surveillance photos; most were demonstrating five, tall persons; three female and two male.

The first woman was in a her young 30, wearing a short, tight black dress with a lab coat above it. She was a brunette woman, with black trapeze shaped glasses and high heels shoes. Her cheek bones were high, smooth at the same time. Her eyes, a strange dark apricot color, were sharp and mysterious. Her hair, a dark chocolate color, was made into a tight knot; a chignon, with two pieces of wood lodged inside of it, which gave her a Chinese look.

The second female would be in her young 20, and she was in a pair of baggy black pants, with a simple, dirty white skirt over it. Her eyes were a cold, heartless brown-yellow, and her lips were held in a thin line. She had greasy blond hair in the form of a long braid that nearly touched her waist. She may be African-American, but her skin was a very light brown. The woman looked young, muscular and the piercing on the upper part of her right ear gave her a tough look.

The first male was definitely and one 100% black and probably old as the Earth itself, but just like the commander every pound of his body was pure muscle and steel-hard ligaments. He was nearly bald since his dark hair was really short, and a massive old scar travelled from his left eye ridge to his left cheek, like something brutal and ferocious had decided to try and carve his eye out. He had a small grey mustache, and strands of white were showed. His face was serious like any soldier, and his eyes had a cold glint. This man's isn't one to mess with, apparently.

The last man was scrubby; small, weak muscled, with round glasses. Typical nerd from anyone's point of view. His skin was a light peach, almost green for some reason. His eyes, a dark brown, were sharp and dare I say(write in fact), crazy. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and a pair of tan business pants. His hair was a wild brown, spiking in almost all directions and angles known to human kind.

The last female and member of the group was...well...very strange; her curved, slender body was well toned, and she wore a long, sleeveless and shoulder-less green dress that ran down to where her legs were supposed to be. Yeah, supposed; she didn't even have legs. The woman was floating on top of a emerald mist that could have been her legs. Her hair was a long, elegant and silky midnight, and it ran down to her waist. He eyes were the same dark green as the lower part of her body.

Rouge and Shadow looked at the Commander in confusion, who nodded; he was confused too the first time he saw this strange being.

"According to our sources, it is a successful experimentation with gas and flesh. It's named Mist according to reports."

Shadow narrowed his blood red eyes. He was a bit ticked the man called Mist by a 'it' when it was clearly a 'she'. Also...this woman was an experiment...but made by who?

"Who are these people?" Rouge asked, saying the question Shadow was about to inquire. The Commander gave the bat a sideway glance.

"Dr. Eleonore Michan, known and condemned to death for practicing and experimenting on human test subjects, Elisa Tawashi, Aka Viper, known to have led numerous attacks and hijacks; she is also one of Dr. Eleonore's experiments, Jake Ivemos, known to have started the Circle, Hermes Gilanores, top scientist of that bunch of rats. And there's Mist, Eleonore's assistant. We don't know it's real name, if it had one." The Commander named/spat out sternly, though there was a hint of disgust in his voice when he named them, especially the first, Eleonore Michan.

_Did he know the woman_? Rouge wondered, finding the hate the Commander had for the Doctor strange, unless he had some kind of connection with her, which could be possible by just looking how GUN acted under his command.

"And what do they have to do with us?" Shadow finally snapped, hating the fact the officer was circling around the subject. The only reason why Towers wants to speak to them personally must be for a important mission, probably. So, why didn't the GUN Commander just hand over the documents for the mission?

Towers inhaled sharply at the biting tone, apparently considering the option of using the gun he had stashed in one of his pants's pockets on the midnight and red hedgehog devil.

"As you should have guessed, Agent," The human continued, brown eye twitching furiously as he took deep, long breaths so he could _calm the fuck down._ "It's a mission; the Circle is doing...unusual activities; they are searching in numerous old ruins and temples. I don't know what they are planning, but we know the next place they are going to search. It's a old dusty ruin of some savages in Africa on top of the mountain Kilimanjaro, more precisely in the volcanic cone of Kibo. Fortunately for you, it's a extinct volcano."

_"Affirmative. Mission accepted._" Omega said in his usual monotone voice, which was ignored by the rest of the team.

"Kilimanjaro? I wish there are jewels there..." Rouge mused to herself when the Commander handed her a small document of papers-which she quickly snatched away from him with the speed only a thief could achieve. Shadow rolled his eyes at the bat's predictable comment.

"We'll get right to it, Commander." The Ultimate Lifeform said with a hint of annoyance, ticked off by just being near the bastard that was his superior.

The black hedgehog and the sneaky white bat were about to turn around when the Commander suddenly added:

"Also Agents: you'll have a...assisting civilian for the mission." Tower said calmly, watching as the two Mobians looked at him with suspicion.

"Civilian?" Rouge exclaimed, confused how a mere human could help them in any kind of situation. Shadow and her exchanged perplexed gazes, baffled by their superior's words.

It was then both the bat and the hedgehog froze at the sound of a very, very familiar voice coming from outside the office:

_"Dudes, chill out will ya? Don't need to drag me there, I can walk on my own! It's enough you guys literally kidnapped me!"_

Shadow and Rouge exchanged glances. The first was now having a serious problem of twitching the left eye while the female looked like she was enjoying the look on her friend's face.

Finally after seconds of torturous silence, the doors flew open and a familiar cobalt blue hedgehog with peach arms, muzzle and chest was dragged/led/kidnapped into the room. Sonic the Hedgehog notice the three agents right away, momentarily ignoring the Commander Towers.

"Huh...What's up?" The azure speed devil asked, giving everyone a thumbs up as he grinned like the usual cocky hog he was.

At this moment, Shadow couldn't resist the urge anymore and face-palmed.

* * *

**0.o**

**00000000h god.**

**I just read Ether again.**

**My eyes.**

**THEY BURN.**

**I never finished rewriting the damn thing! It sooooooooo horrible! ARRRRRG! I must make it better now, or my pride will be hurt forever!**

**Anyway...-_- The characters belong to SEGA, but Vicini, the Circle and some dozen of other people belong to me! And there's someone(not telling yet) that belongs to Starkage the dragon!**


	2. When Discord Strikes The Jet

**Sorry for no updates, but gotta study. My school is evil; the same week vacation's over they start the exams...they really want to kill me :(**

**Anyway, enjoy this next chap!**

**PS: Sorry if it's too silly**.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

_Five seconds later..._

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Slight twitch of Shadow's right eye.

_Another five seconds later..._

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Collective clenching of fists.

**_Another_** five seconds later...

"Are we-"

He was stopped by a collective:

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

"All right all right! Shess..." Sonic mumbled, going to sit back on his chair with a blank expression, watching the ceiling above while Rouge piloted the GUN personal jet. He sighed; he was bored out _of his fri'ging mind _over here!

The azure speed devil chuckled when he remembered what happened a few hours prior; he had been casually laying besides Chris's pool when a bunch of GUN helicopters came out of nowhere. Tanaka had gotten into some kind of...position he said it came from karate(scarred everyone for _life_) and Ella literally fainted when the soldiers descended from the aircrafts, guns blazing and all.

They said something about 'Commander blablabla honor blablabla requested blablabla meet blablabla base' before dragging him to the helicopters. Vicini had panicked, starting to shoot fireballs and making a soldier's helmet catch fire. Hopefully when he arrived at the base Sonic telepathically calmed down the distressed Element Spirit, but he could still feel a ticking feeling of worry coming for the other side of the link he had with the apricot colored hedgehog.

The blue hedgehog sat at the front of the plane, twirling his fingers and occasionally making a small bouncing ball of Ether energy that he threw against the wall and caught just to throw it again. Omega was standing a few seats back (thank The Lord the plane could hold that many pounds of metal), doing nothing really, maybe trying to get a lock on the 'mysterious energy source blue hedgehog was generating', and Shadow was in the pilot chamber with the albino white bat, trying to get away from the cobalt annoyance as much as he could.

Sonic gave a huff, feeling empty. The cerulean hedgehog rolled around his seat and looked out the window again, deciding to count the houses below.

Only to widen his emerald eyes to comical proportions at the sight of water going for miles and miles around. There was no land in sight anymore.

"WE ARE ABOVE THE SEA?!"

The other passengers swore his scream made the whole plane shake.

* * *

Sonic shivered in his seat, eyes still wide from shock and fear. If you didn't realize what was happening, here's a hint _moron_:

He ABSOLUTELY hated water.

It would be more of a phobia, but our speedy devil wouldn't never confess such a thing, being too cocky and all. But still, everyone could see that he didn't like water almost every time he got near a source of that 'foul' liquid. Only Vicini knew where did this 'silly' (for some anyway, it seemed that nobody got it that he was scared to death by that substance) little fear originated, but the apricot one was careful to not spill the beans, since the cerulean hedgehog would trust him with his life, and both of them had each others backs.

Sonic watched as a fuming Shadow stomped out of the cockpit, eyes burning holes in the Holder's skull. Rouge seemed to have ignored his howl, but at the same time even Sonic could see from here that her right eye was starting to twitch furiously. The azure one gulped; if Rouge exploded, it wasn't going to end well.

Sadly, Shadow misunderstood his gulping action as one of fear.

"You better be scared, Faker! Will you shut up for once? It's just WATER!" The Ultimate Lifeform yelled angrily, fuming. Sadly for Sonic, his comment feedback reflex had awakened by the black hedgehog. And once activated...well let's just say it will take the end of the world or a fight to stop it:

"So what? I remember YOU freaking out and calling it a clone when you saw a dark Chao with you style of quills and not to mention the red stripes!" The azure Holder snapped back, making Shadow's muzzle turn pink at the reminder of that incident. '_Oh sweet Maria'_, the ebony one could only think, _'was he really there when Rouge dragged me to the Chao garden?'_

Quickly regaining his cool, as well as his muzzle's usual color, Shadow spoke back at the hedgehog harshly:

"What, are you trying to get back at me for last week's fight, Hedgehog?" The red streaked one hollowed, and Sonic's emerald eyes flickered to an iridescent tone for a few seconds due to anger(*cough* *cough* embarrassment *cough*), None of the speed devils actually remembered how did that fight start; that was normal. Luckily it had begun after a long race, which meant miles and miles away from civilization.

The blue speedster didn't like to talk about it, but Shadow did totally pwm him with his Chaos Spears, and without a thoroughly pissed off Vicini arriving with a massive headache Sonic was sure he would be blueberry jello tapped in a confiture jar at this moment.

"We can continue that fight right now Shads!" The cerulean Holder yelled back, barely protecting himself with a iridescent shield of energy when the Ultimate Lifeform threw his trademark Chaos Spear at him. The two opposites energy immediately reacted, the glowing projectile flying straight at Omega's head, knocking the poor innocent robot off its mechanical feet. The whole plane shook. Neither of the speedy hedgehogs cared.

But they did when a shadow loomed over them. Freezing up instantly, the two immortal hogs turned around. They both gulped in unison at the sight.

Rouge stood in front of them, left eye twitching furiously. Her hands were on her narrow waist, and she was tapping a foot, pink metal heart-shaped tip digging in the soft blood red carpet of the jet. She looked seriously pissed and ready to kill, and her targets were two hedgehogs.

Who decided to play the best pity card they had: the puppy eyes.

Rouge's own eyes narrowed, almost spilling out thunder as she glared coldly at the two.

Emerald and ruby eyes got bigger, begging for pardon.

Narrowed.

Bigger.

_Narrower_.

_Bigger_, taking most of their faces, shining like the stars outside the distant atmosphere.

Rouge still glared, hard, but her murderous stare seemed to be weakened by the sight of the two hedgies gazing up at her with cute, _holy shit that's huge_ eyes. The white bat's anger flared a few seconds, trying to rule over her soft side. It seemed as if Sonic and Shadow were about to win.

Well, they would have if a very angry robot voice boomed behind them:

"NEW MISSION ACQUIRED: DESTROY ALL HEDGEHOGS ON BOARD."

This time both speedy creatures froze, eyes widening to even larger proportions. They slowly turned around, only to meet with Omega's cannons pointed at their faces.

"Hum...can we discuss this?" Sonic asked weakly, the only answer he got was the high pitching sound of the cannon as they charged. He took a step back, only to be glared at by Rouge, who cracked her knuckles.

"Run?" The azure dare devil wondered in a high tone, turning to his counterpart.

The other hedgehog was already 'gone like the wind'.

Sonic immediately followed as chaos issued, Omega firing his guns and Rouge charging at them. They ran around like maniacs, trying to escape the angry pair.

Apparently, it was very difficult to escape, _especially_ if you were on a plane.

* * *

"DAMMIT OPEN UP HEDGEHOG!" Shadow yelled, running around the blue hedgehog's multicolor Ether shield, desperately trying to get in while avoiding Rouge's kicks and Omega's bullets.

Sonic sat in the middle of a circle made of seven large sun colored plates composed of energy, smiling at the Ultimate Lifeform's attempts to persuade him to open up the shield. The Life Plates were generating a dome of Ether energy around him, and for once the blue hedgehog didn't have any problem keeping it up, even while he was munching on a sac of potato chips he stole from the jet's food reserve. At the same time, he watched Shadow get trampled by his own teammates.

Best mission _evar_.

Omega and the white bat had tried to break the rainbow colored shield with no avail (after the Suicune incident Sonic had decided he needed to train his shielding abilities, even if it meant getting a fireball or a Chaos Spear to the face while he was at that). Their attempts on breaking it were futile, and the two pissed GUN agents decided to settle on the easier prey, which was unfortunately Shadow.

"Nh hun! Every hog for himself!" Sonic articulated through the mountain of chewed chips he had in his mouth, licking his dry lips. As much as he liked the salty taste, he started regretting not having a bottle of water.

Shadow snarled, angered by the younger's refusal. Dodging a kick coming from a certain white bat, the black hedgehog threw himself at the multicolor force field. Nothing except bouncing off like a rubber ball, but his trained eyes caught Sonic flinching. The blue hedgehog shuttered when the Ultimate Lifeform sent himself flying into the shield again. This time Sonic made a audible squeak, giving in and letting the ebony hedgehog take refuge in his safe heaven by opening a small part of the energy shield.

Shadow sighed in relief, sitting besides the azure Holder and watching with satisfaction as Rouge cussed up a storm and Omega fired repeatedly on the dome of iridescent energy. Geez when was he going to get out of bullets?

"Get out of there so I can kick your ass!" Rouge bellowed on top of her lungs, drilling against the shield.

"NO THANK YOU!" Shadow and Sonic responded sarcastically.

The black hedgehog looked at his younger counterpart, who was starting to sweat gallons of water. Shadow realized he wasn't going to hold up the shield very longer. Silently praying for a distraction or a miracle, the Ultimate Lifeform got ready to get out as soon the dome was down.

Suddenly Rouge stopped crippling the poor shield, allowing a poor, sweat covered hedgehog to breathe again. The bat made signs for Omega to stop. She straightened her ears while the robot turned toward her with annoyed red eyes.

"MAY I ASK WHY ROUGE THE BAT ORDERS TO HOLD FIRE?" The machine asked curiously, wondering why the thievy flying mammal decided to stop with her revenge.

It was then the jet's navigator/computer pipped in with its annoying calm female, finally able to be heard without the chaos that Sonic and Shadow's *ahem* discussion had issued:

_"Incoming enemy fire at 12 o'clock."_ It buzzed out calmly.

Sonic dropped his shield from shock. Everyone froze.

Seems like Shadow's prayers were answered after all.

* * *

**I'm sure everyone's imagining Shads with puppy eyes...**


	3. A BOOM and a Pichu

**HELLO PEANUT BRAINS I'M ALIVE AND WRITING! I DON'T WANNA FUCK AROUND AND WRITE A BIG LONG ENTRY SO LET'S GET RIGHT TO THE STORY!**

* * *

_Damn the universe._

That was Shadow's first though as his mind came back online, and he was rapidly followed by Rouge and Sonic. The white bat let out a gasp and used the blue hedgehog as leverage to send herself into the cockpit of the jet at great speeds. Sonic squeaked like Sonic the Hedgehog would never allow himself to when the pink and white high heels of the thief found there way on his face before rapidly pushing off, sending him backwards into Omega. The two tumbled to the back of the plane just as the two others got to the cockpit.

Rouge immediately went to the controls and tried to steer the the plane away while Shadow looked outside. 12 o'clock meant right in front of you, and the Ultimate Lifeform could see very clearly the large, sleek, black missile flying at them. A simple design, relatively easy to build for a genius like Eggman or Tails, but it could do some pretty bad damage.

"Why isn't this budging!" The white bat screamed angrily, a anime like nerve popping out of her forehead as she pulled at the commands with rage and desperation.

"Computer turn this plane around!" Shadow ordered via the small speaker, the control panel crackling with electricity as it answered:

"Enemy fire has right of way, Agent Shadow." The malfunctioning piece of equipment buzzed out in a neutral tone.

A Chaos Spear later and the computer went up in smoke.

"They're stuck!" Rouge yelled besides the fuming black hedgehog, panicking as she tugged and pulled and twisted the commands like crazy. That didn't do much good, however.

_**Pop**_!

Shadow and the white bat stared blankly at the piece of machinery in the later's hands.

"We're screwed." Sonic commented bluntly when he arrived to the cockpit. Omega nodded lightly as he followed the cobalt blue hedgehog. The robot briefly wondered how, with their dysfunctional and uncooperative personalities, these three Mobians survived this long...maybe it was their abilities with an extra side of endlessly absolute luck...

'_Damn_..' Shadow though, passing in his head every possible solution to get out of this mess. Chaos Control was out of the question, since the GUN Commander had the lovely idea of taking his red Chaos emerald so it wouldn't 'fall in the wrong hands'. Jumping off the plane was a bad solution as well; Omega would sink into the bottomless sea, and not to mention Sonic would have a heart attack (like Shadow cared about that). The plane's command were officially busted, leaving no other option than...

"Faker, can you put up a shield around the plane?" The Ultimate Lifeform said through gritted teeth, hating the fact he had to ask help from his rival...well it was that or getting blown up...

Sonic's emerald eyes went wide at that and he gave the black and red hedgehog a blank look. In a mini fraction of seconds that surprised stare was replaced by a very familiar cocky smile.

"Wow Shadz I never though I'll see the day you'll ask for my help! This is the end of the world!" The blue hedgehog said, making a dramatical face while he was at it. Shadow's right eye twitched and Rouge cracked a faint smile.

"We'll if this keeps up you'll be the end of the world (no puns intended for those who understand the joke)." The Ultimate Lifeform growled, snapping back at the younger speedster.

...Shadow was starting to consider the _later_ option of the deal...

"Anyway, can you do it Blue?" Rouge asked, throwing away the now useless commands. She looked at the missiles nearing outside with worry while the said rodent nodded, taking a deeeeeeeeep breath.

"Yep." Sonic with a thumbs up and a wink, which gave these results: a smiling Rouge and a face-palming Ultimate Lifeform. The cerulean hero closed, breathing becoming longer and more deep as he focused. Seven massive plaques covered in golden symbols rose from his chest. Everyone took a step back, leaving some space for the cerulean hero to do his job.

The Life Plates twirled around the hedgehog at a fast rate, soon becoming a swirling pool of gold and multicolor. A thin membrane of gelatinous iridescent substance stretched out of the golden whirlpool, slowly crawling through and around the cockpit of the plane and expanding...

"Anytime now Faker!" Shadow yelled with obvious stress in his voice, watching as the missiles neared, now a few seconds away from the speeding jet.

"It's actually harder than it looks...a plane is a lot larger than a person..." Sonic whispered through gritted teeth, cracking one eye open and glaring at the Ultimate Lifeform, who, with his usual indifference, ignored the cerulean daredevil.

The forcefield was growing too slowly for Shadow's taste, stretching with the speed of a turtle. It had already covering the nose and the cockpit of the GUN jet, the black one felt a little anxious, since there was the rest of the large metal bird Sonic needed to cover. It would take a minute or so, something that the four heroes didn't have. The missiles were getting closer, just three seconds away from them.

"FAKER COVER THE DAMN COCKPIT ALREADY!" Shadow yelled in panic, noticing that Rouge had already closed her sapphire eyes in fear. The iridescent shield made a bounce forward, covering the front of the jet just as the missiles exploded.

BOOM!

Everyone turned around, Rouge blinking as the ivory bat tried to process why exactly she wasn't dead. What the group found was a cloud of black smoke and the burning remains of the jet dropping down into the sea. The front of the plane was untouched, encased in a ball of rainbow colored energy.

Sonic let out a small, nervous laugh.

"At least I got a part of it..." The cobalt blue speedster said, staggering lightly as the Life Plates retracted into his chest, taking the Ether-composed shield with them. Shadow gave a glare at his rival, mentally restraining himself from strangling the younger hedgehog.

And then the cockpit plummeted toward the cold, furious waters.

xxxxxx Sky Haven Temple xxxxxx

"Don't you think it's weird? I mean, those humans came out of nowhere and took Sonic! Shouldn't we do something? They can't just boss us around! That's...that's...you get the point!" Vicini finished with a growl as he stomped around the main hall of Sky Haven Temple. This was his fifth rant so far, and Rio, Techno, Laiös and Achilla knew they were going to need one month worth of psychologist.

Right now the four Element Spirits were sprawled on a large, modernistic leather (fake, since it would give nightmares to the younger ones) couch, watching boringly as Vicini walked in perfect circles on the contours of the giant Ying Yang symbol encased on the marble floor. Couches and comfy, very colored poufs laid around the massive stone room, and some bookshelves stood in the corner. Very few Element Spirits were in the room, most running around the mortal plane in delight of their newly found freedom.

Achilla, an Electric class Spirit who's temper was known for being as powerful as the storms she commanded, was slouched besides her boyfriend Laiös, a cocky Water class Spirit who's speed was known to surpass time itself. The dark blue hedgehog was at the point of fainting from being unoccupied for more than three seconds and three seconds in the same place could be a record for him. Techno, the Music Spirit, was zoned out in her headphones (just like her father always is) and sitting on the marble floor, music blasting so loud from the machine that you could dance to it miles away from her. And lastly was a certain turquoise hedgehog, who had returned after a three-days run in the Ether.

"Oh come on Vi it isn't such a big deal." Rio chipped, sitting upside down on the couch for no apparent reason. His marijuana leaf-shaped quills were on his face, and only his long, elegant black nose could been seen thought the softened blue and purple spikes. By how he was counting the innumerable emeralds shaped like leaves on one of the nearby columns, he seemed to be bored beyond _reason_.

"'Such a big deal'?! Sorry to say it like this Suicune, but I'm his Guardian Spirit and my job is to protect-**_Why_** is there a **_Pichu_** here?" The orange hedgehog said, blinking his pupiless sapphire eyes as he watched the small yellow and black mouse bounce around on Achilla's lap happily. The Pichu only looked at him with curious, golfball sized orbs, munching on a piece of chocolate Techno had offered it a few seconds prior.

"I brought it from the Ether." Rio said absently, still trying to count the leaves. Achilla eyed him weirdly. She was sure the turquoise spirit knew that doing that was as hopeless as it was useless...maybe he was doing it so he wouldn't go with Vicini to Kilimanjaro?

"You know you shouldn't bring the Ether's fauna outside it's home dimension anymore...right?" Akema reminded from a few poufs away with a stern face. The grey hedgehog was reading a book written in weird, alien-like language, and her glassy blue eyes seemed to drill into the red eyes of the Purity Spirit.

"It's not my fault that Onyx decided to play demolition!" Rio said with a pout and glare combo, finally looking elsewhere than the stone leaves of the ivory column. Akema gave him a raised eyebrow at his outburst. Luckily someone else decided to step in before the two started a fight, and it would be a fight that would surely end up with the destruction of the room.

"Oh shush it Akema. It's nothing of your business anyway." Laiös exclaimed with a neutral tone, tugging and examining his new gloves. With a peach tint, they were fingerless with blue edges. There were deep blue sapphire stones encrusted on the dorsal palm, and to complement these new gloves the cerulean Speed Spirit had a light tan jacket with blue zipper and hoody. The jacket was made to hide the large, glowing red triangle on his chest, which could easily attract the eye of any mortal if not hidden.

The Element Spirit of Mysteries gave out a annoyed huff before disappearing in a silver light, leaving the book to loudly fall on the floor with a 'thud!' as revenge.

"Show off. Anyway shouldn't we do something about Sonic?" Achilla asked, expecting the orange hedgehog known as Vicini to forget the Pichu problem. The result was easy to expect.

The Element Spirit of Energy clapped his hands, immediately forgetting the black and yellow menace that was currently hopping around the room while chipping it's name like it expected God to suddenly drop a mountain of chocolate on it's face.

"We should watch over him!" The apricot hedgehog decided, and the four others had to agree it was a good idea (for once). Well, it was a good idea until one of them realized something.

"But Sonic doesn't want us to follow him...and he can detect us if we are too close, remember?" Achilla suddenly acknowledge, which made everyone think about the problem. A problem that Vicini had already thought of.

For answer, the orange spirit looked at the squealing Pichu with a blank face. The other Element Spirits looked at the apricot one like he'd grown a second tail and a third eye.

"You've got to be kidding me." Laiös said bluntly with a raised eyebrow, watching as Vicini picked up the minuscule black and yellow mouse. The Pichu gave a small coo when the Fire class Spirit scratched it behind the ears.

"Vicini are you mad?" Achilla yelled just as the orange hedgehog warped away with the Pichu, electricity and smoke crackling around her hands as she jumped on her feet, ignoring how her boyfriend shrunk to the size of a pea and the rest of the gang hastily backing away from her like if she had caught the flu. And from the group's point of view, the flu would be welcomed way better than Achilla's anger.

"Good thing he's doing something crazy..." Techno whispered with a sight, closing her eyes and increasing the volume of her headphones. She hadn't moved from her stop on the couch, since she was used to see her more...violent twin have a tantrum.

All the heads turned around to look at the light yellow hedgehog in surprise, wondering why the Music Spirit thought such a thing, let alone why she looked so un-preoccupied.

"How is that?!" Achilla growled at her sister, watching as the hedgie's right eye opened half-way. Techno gave the other Spirit a fanged smirk.

"Cuz when he does something crazy it actually works."

* * *

**What a worry pants that Vicini is...**

**Vicini: *Cough* I'm one of your OC Rasgnarrok.**

**Ahem what can I say other than...PICHU BAZOOKA!**

***Fires a Pichu right on Vi's face***

**Vicini: WTF**

**Sonic: I need new friends.**


	4. Blackmail

**This is Rasgnarok begging for forgiveness, over.**

* * *

"This...is bad. And shameful. We didn't even arrived and we already blew it up." Rouge said in a falsely saddened voice, watching the remains of the jet sink deep in the icy blueness of the sea. The female mentally screamed in anger when it disappeared from sight: her purse was still down there!

Dangling below the white bat, Shadow scowled, holding for dear life on the left leg of his partner. The Ultimate Lifeform seemed in a very bad mood as he watched the plane go down. The only satisfaction that came from it's destruction was the fact the metal bird they just whacked out of existence belonged to GUN.

'_Wait. Where is Faker and Omega?_' The black and red hedgehog suddenly realized, more concerned for the machine rather than his rival. Well, one of the reasons why he wasn't worried for the cerulean hero was that he could feel the Life Plate's energy near.

The bio engineered hedgehog felt his muscles tense in worry. His main though was Omega, since the robot couldn't last long in open sea. He would sink into the water. His circuits would then fry and he could rust until nothing was recoverable from him. A very bad way to go if you asked anyone.

'_Did he sink into the water_?' Shadow thought, concerned since he knew there was no way to save his robotic friend if he really did sink into the deeps of the sea.

He was, however, snapped out of his thoughts by a strangely quiet rocket-like sound, later followed by Rouge's laugh:

"Haha! Didn't know you could do that Blue!" The white bat exclaimed, cheering at the sight of Omega floating in mid-air. It wasn't the robot who caused this anti-gravitation phenomenon, but what was just beneath it. Now that Shadow could see what it was, the midnight furred hedgehog couldn't help but smirk at the hilarious sight, since laughing would tarnish his representation.

A small orange furred creature was holding the very heavy robot up in the air, pupiless blue eyes narrowed in concentration. A V shaped crown of spikes stood on top of it's head, the sharp tips inches from stabbing into Omega's..uh..._stomach_, if you get what I mean. The robot looked absolutely clueless, bringing it's mechanical limbs closer to it's torso so it could make Sonic hold him up more easily.

The Holder's small apricot claws were digging into the metal, and the small furry's face seemed serious, but he looked too cute for that from Rouge's point of view. The only reason Omega wasn't turned into a aquarium was that the (former) blue hedgehog turned his lower body into a turbine of orange flames, allowing him to hold up the one ton and something bot with ease.

To tell that this scene was strange was an understatement.

"This is...unique, hedgehog." Shadow said, trying to keep a stern face as long as he could.

The sapphire orbs narrowed toward him, and what happened next was the death blow for the Ultimate Lifeform:

"_Shut up, faker."_

Bursting out laughing at the squeaky voice his rival had, the black speed devil finally understood why Vicini and Sonic NEVER spoke in this form.

* * *

"_Oh sweet Lightos. They found out."_

That was the only thing Vicini said as he opened his eyes, exiting the trance he had been in the past few minutes. He had been flying toward the village Sonic and the three other should be when he picked up the hedgehog's distress. For a second, the Fire Spirit thought about rushing in and scold the cerulean hero for his carelessness, that is until he used their link to see through the speedy hog's emerald eyes.

You could never believe how frightened he felt when the apricot hedgehog saw the plane go down. He felt like screaming and take it out on somebody (he DID level down a mountain a few miles from here...). Vicini's relief was immense when he realized the cerulean was fine, but the fact Shadow and Rouge found out he was lying when he told Chris that nor Sonic or himself could speak in his other form was even worst.

'_Knuckles will NEVER let go of that. You blew our cover, you spiked little rat.'_ The Element Spirit thought, fists glowing gold-orange as he fumed mentally, restraining himself from making Kilimanjaro's volcanos blow up sky high. Sighing, he closed his pupiless eyes and calmed down. His ears were suddenly lowered by an familiar weight and he looked up growling at the _other_ spiked rat he was starting to regret bringing.

On top of the scruffy quills sat the Pichu. The small electric mouse was stuffing itself full on a chocolate bar, the little red cheeks round from the cacao and sugar. Some crumbs fell down on the Element Spirit's face, who seemed to have a twitching problem with his right eye. The hedgehog tried to calm himself, but when the _coup de grace_ arrived in the form of a half melted crumb covered in saliva falling down into his nose, Vicini snapped:

"That's enough chocolate! Are you a pig or something!?" The Spirit of Energy growled, warping the Oreo bar out of the Pichu's small claws. The little Ether animal cried out in sadness, tears threatening to take over as he watched his tasty treat vanish.

The mouse's eyes suddenly narrowed in anger and he glared down on a set of now satisfied sapphire. His cheeks reddened even more as he cracked his little knuckles. Vicini watched the small creature in confusion.

"What are you looking at?"

There was a vengeful _BIZZ_ and Vinici found himself having a new haircut.

"I hate you." The electrocuted hedgehog grumbled in anger, watching as the Pichu smiled down at him, downing the new chocolate treat he just received.

* * *

"This is unbelievable..." Shadow choked through his laughs, earning a blue shaded death glare from the Holder. Rouge just watched the horizon in search of landmass, preferring to not get between the two.

"_I swear if you don't stop laughing..."_

"You sound just like Cream!"

_"I said SHUT UP goddammit!"_

"I'm going to laugh to death if you keep talking..."

"_I hate you. By the way, you have bipolar disorder?"_

At this rate, Rouge the Bat could only hope she made it to land before they killed each other.

The albino bat was sitting on Omega's left shoulder, scrutinizing the water in search of land. The robot itself was quiet, not wanting to place himself in danger of becoming a lobster house on the bottom of the sea if the orange creature pushing on his back decided to let go and leave him to sink.

They were able to retrieve one of the parachutes from the plane (with Rouge's purse, of course), which they strapped on Omega to relieve Sonic from doing all the work. Both Shadow (who still couldn't stop laughing, and that was creeping Rouge by now) and the white bat sat on each of the bot's shoulders. While they rested from the ordeal, poor Sonic, who was still in Vicini form, pushed their contraption by changing his lower body into a orange flamethrower-rocket thing. The hedgie was doing all the work while the two just chilled.

_I hate this. If GUN comes knocking to my house EVER again, I'm sewing their asses._

It had been at least two entire hours since they crashed the jet, and Shadow WAS STILL FUCKING LAUGHING.

"Rouge help me with this or I'm dropping the three of you!" The poor Holder threatened, his patience slowly turning into nothing each time Shadow opened his mouth. His sky blue eyes twitched as he watched Rouge lean toward a laughing Shadow and whisper something that even with his sensitive earring he didn't catch.

The effect was instantaneous.

Shadow's mouth hung open and his cheeks flushed greatly. His ears flattened in defeat. The Ultimate Lifeform went red, then green, then blue and finally white, sweat dropping in numerous places at Rouge's words. Gulping, the black hedgehog whispered back:

"That's fucking blackmail." He hissed angrily, ignoring how both Sonic and Omega watched then with confusion and mild curiosity. Neither of the two stepped in and asked, however, which Shadow was grateful for.

"You keep acting like Two-Face and I won't tell a soul about the photo, darling." Rouge said with a sensual wink, even if she knew that wasn't going to annoy or faze the black and crimson hedgehog, unlike most men.

_"I hope you get_ _cancer_."

"What did you say honey?" The white bat whispered, crossing her arms while leaning her head toward the Ultimate Lifeform's face. The black speed devil paled as she did so, knowing it was part of the threat.

Gulping, he shuttered awkwardly:

"I see land."

* * *

**I AM SO SORRY AGAIN AND AGAIN IF IT IS SHORT BUT I HAVE SCHOOL AND A BITCHY MOTHER!**

**Now that you understood, I promise the next chapters will upload faster and will be longer. Pinky promise.**

**Uh...now I notice...but it took three chapters to get from one place to another...**

**Hey, do you want to know what the blackmail was all about?**


	5. Arrival

**Hi dudes! Sorry for the delay, final exams coming and all...**

* * *

"LAND! FINALLY NO MORE STINKY WATER! IT'S A MIRACLE!"

"JESUS CHRIST FAKER WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! YOU ALMOST RAN ME OVER GODDAMMIT!"

Ah. What a beautiful friendship, don't you agree?

'_If this keeps up they are going to burn the plain. Well, Shadow is already at it.'_ Rouge thought bitterly, boringly watching as Sonic avoided a flaming Chaos Spear from a fuming Shadow. The albino bat glided gracefully under the burning African sun, observing the vast plain of yellow grass evolving beneath. From up here she could (safely) watch as a certain annoying hedgehog and a Ultimate Lifeform tried to make the other bite the dust with a series of Chaos Spears and Spin Dashes.

Omega had fallen behind, the robot being a secure distance from the high-speed mini fight going of a few hundred feet in front of him. Using his thrusters, the E-100 was capable of going at speeds that could rival the two bickering hedgehogs, but the mechanical wonder -there went another tree- preferred distancing himself from the fight going on in front. Being caught in the crossfire seemed to be a habit for Omega, and his energy was already waisted enough with the jet fiasco crap to add the growing fight was not something he wanted.

"Guys, will you stop it already!?" Rouge called out from above-only to shriek in surprise when a Chaos Spear zipped right by her face and nearly making her hair catch on fire.

"Tell him to shut up and I will!" Shadow roared angrily, trying to scorch to death the blue nuisance that was now running backwards. The Blue Blur was twirling around and curling up into a Spin Dash, ignoring how the Ultimate Lifeform's killing tendencies were going up like a NASA rocket.

"Aw come on Shadow don't be so shady!" Sonic exclaimed, expertly avoiding a Chaos Spear coming from the said hedgehog. The flaming projectile zipped past the hedgehog before crashing in the yellowish grass, scaring the living day lights out of a herd of antelopes and ruining a cheetah's hunt.

"_Why you little~"_ The offended speedster growled, taking off his rings and shoving them into his quills with the intention of blasting the insolent rodent into oblivion.

The reaction was immediate:

"NOT THAT SHADS!"

"SHADOW DON'T YOU DARE!"

"**Agent Shadow it would be unwise to-"**

**_BOOM!_**

* * *

"We are two miles away from Kilimanjaro. In a few minutes we'll arrive to Moshi." A dust covered white bat grumbled, sitting on Omega's shoulder once again. Putting away her GPS, Rouge watched boringly as Sonic and Shadow ran alongside, purposely separated from each other by the black and red robot.

"Finally!" A disheveled Sonic exclaimed with a large smile, earning a glare from Shadow, who had a high heel shaped bruise on his muzzle. That was a little gift he earned from Rouge after having blasted the three of them into the dirt. Only Omega was sparred from the blast, having slowed down at the sight of the upcoming energy release.

The Blue Blur accelerated greatly, zipping toward a small city he deducted being Moshi. That was where they would meet up with a GUN armada, from what the Commander 'told' them. For a few seconds, Sonic couldn't help but feel sheepish for the occupants of the little town, knowing it was very uncomfortable having a dozen of soldiers with a few tanks patrolling around.

'_Cute place.'_ The cerulean hedgehog innocently thought as he slowed down to a stop in front of a large street, strangely empty of cars. There was, however, a large armored jeep sitting in the middle of it, and a familiar two-legged robot painted green, red and yellow stood beside the vehicle, ready to blow any threat into oblivion with the large missiles it held inside it's armored back.

"A F-6t Big Foot."

The blue Holder whirled around in surprise, not having heard Shadow sneak up behind him.

"Dude don't do that!" Sonic exclaimed, to be ignored by the red and black hedgehog. Seeing this, he refrained himself from chopping the Ultimate Lifeform to pieces with a Ether Sword just because there was a group of kids peaking from a nearby window, their brown eyes filled with curiosity.

Sonic smiled brightly, waving at the young humans. He lost his smile, however, when the mother of the children shushed them away from the window and slammed it closed. And that wasn't before flashing a death glare to the perplexed hero.

'_That was weird.'_

A few seconds later Omega and Rouge arrived, the later hopping down the mechanical contraption with ease. The white bat smiled at the small town of Moshi, liking the little quiet neighborhood. So different from the noisy Station Square. Really, there was always a few people shouting, a sonic boom there, Amy's shrieking in the background, Eggman's disturbing laugh echoing from a few streets away and the Commander yelling in the phone each time he called...yep, no the best city to live in. But the bill was cheap, so she had to settle for it.

The smile Rouge held didn't seem to persist when she saw a familiar person jump down the jeep and stomp toward them.

"What is he doing here!?" Rouge wined, hopping off Omega. She glared at the man Sonic didn't recognize. The azure hedgie racked his brain for the name of the soldier, but he couldn't remember...

The human had tanned skin and short dark hair. Wearing a pair of sunglasses, he had this mean mouse look and his eyes seemed narrowed permanently, giving off the typical aura of 'shot and then talk' most of the GUN personnel had. Or are required to have. Whatever. Its not like it had any improvement on their aim.

"Who's that dude?" Sonic asked, pointing his finger at the man with no shame, ignoring the fact that pointing fingers at anyone was disrespectful. Especially if that 'anyone' had a gun. Boff. This hedgehog could avoid missiles in his sleep!

"**Captain James Westwood. He is assigned to the Circle case five months ago by Commander Towers. Known for manipulating experimental equipment and, this individual might add, for having a grudge against special unit Team Dark."** Omega answered boldly as Shadow went up and spoke to the human. From here they couldn't hear well what they were saying-

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME AGENT! THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST PLANES WE HAD AND YOU **BLEW IT UP!**?!" The Captain was literally shouting at the Ultimate Lifeform, and Sonic wondered how his rival could be so calm. Really, the dude was practically spitting at Shadow's face! That was ruder than Vicini dumping water on Chris when he didn't want to wake up on weekdays!

Well, being Sonic the Hedgehog, he had to be friendly. Gotta live up to his name, right?

"Hello what's up Cap! You shouldn't yell like that, you're going to scare away Shadz's good mood. Blame the person who send the missile after us! Plus, we arrived didn't? Take a chill pill!" Was the first thing the cerulean hedgie exclaimed when he rushed up to him, holding up his arm for a shake. It wasn't the most formal way to speak to a high up of the GUN organization, but it was like that the blue hero spoke to the Commander, and he didn't get a bullet to the head.

_Yet_.

Westwood watched him behind his sunglasses, obviously not impressed by the performance. Turning around and adjusting the glasses on his straight nose, the GUN agent watched the Kilimanjaro mountain with understanding in his eyes.

"That explains the missile that was fired this morning..." The man whispered to himself, loud enough for the group to hear him.

Rouge's eyebrows shot up at this.

"It came from the mountain?!" The white bat exclaimed, watching the Kibo part of Kilimanjaro wearily, like if she expected a missile to come down on their asses. Again.

Captain Westwood nodded, deciding it was time for him to show his manliness by pulling out a cigaret, lighting it up and taking a long sip of it, ignoring how Sonic wrinkled his nose and made a disgusted face. After a whole ten seconds of silence, Westwood continued:

"We had a scan of the place. It's filled with caves and tunnels. Apparently, those rats are holding up inside the volcano. About forty men and ten robots they stole, upgraded and reprogrammed from us." The Captain murmured, tone dry as he remembered the Commander's fury about the ten Bigfoots's disappearing act. Oh how he wished it wasn't him who took the blame...he had to clean all of the main base's floors as punishment...

Sonic gave out a laugh as he understood what had to be done.

"So basically we just have to go up, break the bots and bring those nutjobs to you guys? Easy peasy!" And with that he was racing toward the mountain at full speed, making the wind pick up and scaring the living daylight out of a pair of random street cats.

Rouge, Shadow, Omega and the Captain watched the blue dot disappear into the town, the later blinking in shock. With a mild curse, Shadow activated his Hover shoes and ran after the Blue Blur, intending to arrive first.

"Are they always like this?" Captain Westwood grumbled, marching toward his car while yelling to his soldiers to start moving out. Behind him, Rouge gronde as well, her wings unfolding as she took flight:

"As much as it pains me to say it, yes."

* * *

_Drip...Drip...Drip..._

Hermes Gilanores watched as the boiling droplets of water slid down the stalactite, the liquid heated up by the lava lying beneath the hard rock under the man's feet. Smirking, the emerald eyed scientist rose up to his feet, whirling around and walking toward the entry of the temple.

The stone door rose from the ground. Sculpted in onyx. By hand. A work of art. It was pure perfection. The straight lines, softly becoming curves only to straighten out once again. The pictures on it. The seven lines around a sun. The same symbol found in the ancient roman text they found. And strange drawing that was. So perfect. So mysterious. So quiet.

The Fire Kiareth Temple. Containing the first part of the puzzle leading to the ultimate power. Holding so many secrets. Holding so many powers. So...beautifully mysterious, a place filled with wonders no man can ever dream of. He could almost taste the energy inside.

Hermes licked his lips hungrily.

Soon, the Kiareth will be in the clutches of the Circle, and once in, it will never get out.

The soldiers that were under his command watched him with weariness, not liking the crazed look in the scientist's eyes at all. With his small pupils, large smile and constant giggling, he might win a one-way-ticket straight to the asylum.

"Freak." One soldier was even stupid enough to mutter.

He never saw the blow coming as blood spayed the men, who gasped, eyes wide and terrified, as they watched the corpse of their companion fall, torso ripped apart and body severed in two. The bullet-proof vest had been shattered like paper. The soldiers hurried backward, trying to not getting in contact with the blood, almost like if it was acid. After a few seconds of watching the mangled body, they looked up, appalled from the horrible kill.

"Now gentlemen..." Hermes said calmly as he readjusted his glasses on his straight edged nose, smiling innocently at the terrified soldier. He walked past the bloody murder he just committed, opening the stone door of the Kiareth Temple.

"Shall we move on further?"

None of the soldier missed the reptilian, toxic, glowing green eyes.


	6. The Bottle and The Smile

**HI GUYS!**

* * *

Kilimanjaro's sides were rocky and hostile, the stone carved into sharp tips by the wind that brushed it since more than a thousand years. A dangerous, unstable terrain filled with obstacles was something Sonic was more than familiar with...

...that is, if it wasn't a near _vertical_ surface.

"And I though nothing was worse than water..." The said blue speedster muttered, breathing heavily as he pushed himself off a large rock and onto another...only to find it that the setting sun had already cooked this one.

"_YAOUCH_!" Sonic screeched, jumping back and painfully falling down on his back the rock he was standing on before. The hedgie's behind connected with the stone and he yelped yet again, rubbing the now sore stop with a grimace.

A shadow loomed over him and he looked up, glaring at the smug smirk his black furred look-a-like had on his tan muzzle. Shadow the Hedgehog floated there with the help of his Hover Shoes, red-streaked arms crossed over a tuff of sparkling white fur. His smirk widened at his rival's glare, and that made did not help with their 'friendly' relationship.

"Having fun Faker?" The Ultimate Lifeform asked, receiving another glare from the cobalt hero. Sonic huffed and tried to jump on another rock, only to leap back at the burning surface.

"S-Shut up!"

The black hedgehog flew aside, letting a human-sized ball of Ether energy zip by him.

"Your aim has something to be desired, Faker." The bio-hedgehog commented, watching as the glowing sphere scattered a flock of exotic birds high above them. The aviaries gave out undignified croaks before flying away, deciding they rather change their entire migration plans rather than getting another of those things to the beak.

Sonic growled at Shadow's comment, charging another orb in his hands. Blue-green sparks ran up and down his arms as the speed devil made a throwing movement.

"Oh really? Well I can improve right now!" The azure hedgehog snarled, emerald eyes narrowed as he prepared to throw the charging ammo. The Ultimate Lifeform made no move to flee, but rather gave Sonic a inviting smirk.

"I dare you, Hedgehog."

Before any of the two rivals could do anything, a white bat descended upon them, aquamarine eyes blazing with anger.

"Shadow! Sonic! Don't start a fight again you'll give away our positions!" Rouge hissed like a banshee above them, glaring at the two like she was trying to throttle them with her eyes only.

There was a moment of silence, where blue and black glared at each other, daring one another to make a first move.

"Shame." Shadow shook his head and flew away, up toward Omega. The robot who had decided not long ago to never get himself in the middle of the two hedgehog's rampages ever again had kept traveling upward. He was now near the Kibo crater's entrance, which consisted of a huge, rocky platform from what they could see.

Sonic sighed from below, stuck between burning his feet on the hot rocks or accidentally falling to his death...either way, Vicini would kill him...(Less than a mile away, a certain orange hedgehog sneezed loudly.)

...Suddenly, the blue hero had an idea.

Rouge yelped in surprise when a large shadow leaped above her, masking the sun with it's great size. Gaping, the GUN agent watched as a car-sized blue canine with a pink mane hopped from rock to rock without difficulty, it's paws unaffected by the stone's heat, rapidly gaining terrain on a unexpecting Shadow the Hedgehog.

_'Smart move Blue. But with that shiny fluff you're going to be very easily detected.' _Rouge mused, smiling ever so slightly when she saw Suicune approach Shadow from behind. The black hedgehog was already at the platform, scanning around for any enemy troops. He found none. But the surface of the platform was littered with large rocks, and that provided quite a few of hiding spots.

Sonic smirked inwardly as he watched Shadow nearly take out his guns when, in Suicune form, he landed on the rocky platform right in front of him. The dark speedster briefly scowled at the giant canine, but looked away and said nothing. The Ultimate Lifeform was about to speak, when he suddenly closed his mouth, looking at something behind the Holder. That made the blue hero wonder.

'_Weird. He NEVER passes a screaming match opportunity...'_

But then he realized something. They weren't alone. At their company wasn't the friendliest to ever exist.

Turning around, Sonic notice a bunch of humans stood in front of them, armed to the teeth with daggers, guns, grenades...you name it. They wore a dark green uniform resembling GUN's, but it was bulkier, more protective than the former. They had masks on, so it was impossible to see their faces.

Four large, upgraded Bigfoots stood on each sides of the men, equipped with massive machine guns. The once green/blue paint now stood a new sleek, shiny black chrome, and the Circle's mandala-like symbol stood on the top of the machine, standing out like a sore thumb on the dark color of the mech.

The men examined the four heroes in silence, guns ready to shot. Apparently, Team Dark (and Sonic) were expected to arrive here by the Circle.

Shadow watched the humans wearily, charging his hands full of Chaos energy, ready to summon a shower of Chaos Spears on them. Besides the Ultimate Lifeform, Omega aimed his rockets and gun on the Circle troops, and Rouge flew above, blue eyes narrowed on the armed men.

As for Sonic, still in Suicune form, he growled like a wolf, showing his long, sharp fangs. The Blue Blur couldn't change back into his normal body and kick their asses supersonic style without the risk of exposing his 'new' ability.

There was silence as the two group stared at each other, waiting for the first move.

"FIRE AT WILL!" One of the soldiers abruptly yelled at the same time Sonic rammed himself into one of the upgraded Bigfoots, knocking down the machine and tearing the wires out of it's body.

At the loud cry the humans opened fire, but Shadow had already unleashed a series of Chaos Spears, and the projectiles destroyed most of the guns the men were armed with. Before they could recover Rouge was one them, kicking and spinning into them with her strong legs.

Shadow spin-dashed into the nearest human, sending the poor guy against a rock formation. Ducking under a couple of bullets, the Ultimate Lifeform retaliated with a few Chaos spears. Not waiting to hear the surprised cries, he grabbed the ankle of a random soldier and threw him into another. The man impacted one of his comrades and both dropped like flies.

"What is with you humans!? You can't give me a challenge!" Shadow exclaimed smugly, watching as the troops tried to retaliate. A Bigfoot aimed at him but he leaped into the air, buzzing toward the machine in the form of a deadly ball of razors spikes.

The upgraded Bigfoot exploded as the Ultimate Lifeform went through the machine.

Meanwhile, Sonic fired a sphere of energy on another Bigfoot, before jumping away from the third one, which attacked him from behind with it's machine guns. Thankfully no bullet hit the Blue Blur, but the cerulean shapeshifter had a hard time avoiding them. The mech had him cornered against the end of the volcanic platform. Suicune growled menacingly, ready to charge-when Omega took down the Bigfoot with his rocket launcher.

'_Thanks Omega!'_ Sonic thanked mentally, jumping above the black and red robot and knocking unconscious a couple of humans with his tremendous weight. Shifting his massive head around, he notice that the remaining terrorists had been taken down, and Rouge was already taken it upon herself to bind the men against each other with some ropes she carried.

Sonic carefully trotted to her side, his light blue fur glowing in iridescent as slowly shifted back to his natural two-legged form. A casual smirk was stretched over his peach muzzle (kicking someone's ass does that to you, really, you should try it sometimes) as he bend down, grabbing one of the knocked out and dragging the poor guy near enough for Rouge to tie up with the others.

"Here. Let me give you a hand!" The Blue Blur chirped, helping the white bat bind the rest together around a tall, slender rock formation. After a few minutes of dragging, tying up and kicking around all of the goons had been stripped of their weapons and bonded together.

"That should be enough. Thanks Blue." Rouge said with a grin, throwing all the weapons off the platform. The objects clattered and shattered as they fell to their doom. Meanwhile, Rouge turned around and frowned.

Sonic tilted his head to the side.

"What? Do I have paint on my face of somethin'?" He asked, cringing mentally when he remembered the time when Knuckles and Tails painted him pink. BUBBLEGUM PINK! And during Valentine's day! The horror!

"Where's Shadow and Omega?"

Blinking, Sonic turned around. Rouge was right. Both the 'Ultimate Jackass' and Omega had disappeared! Where could they be...

It was then he notice something. The entrance of a cave tunnel barely stuck out between all of the rocks and debris from the fight. Could have Shadow and Omega gone impatient enough and decided to go in on their own?

"Rouge! Look over here!" The Blue Blur rushed to the cave entry he just found, the white bat glancing briefly around before following. "Think the dummies went in there?" Sonic asked, pointing at the dark end of the tunnel while grinning like a little kid.

Rouge rolled her eyes, pushing the infamous cerulean speed devil aside before entering the cave. In her element, the female Mobian rapidly disappeared into the darkness. Sonic growled, contemplating the odds of winning a battle against her while inside the cave.

"This is just mean...I hate GUN!" The blue hedgehog resigned himself to whine, following the nocturne female thief into the darkness of the hollow.

xxxxxxExact same place, but some time laterxxxxx

The Circle goons sat there, slowly turning into human steaks under the burning sun. They were glaring at nothing, since they had, after all, nothing to pick at. Well...that is until now.

Their attention was grabbed when a small squeaky, yellow-shaded creature climbed on the rocky platform, yellow cheeks red from fatigue. It squeaked and panted pitifully, looking around for something to drink.

"What is that? Another of GUN's pets?" One of the men mumbled, glaring at the little creature.

"Well it doesn't look like much to me..." Another of the terrorist huffed, his expression unrecognizable under his mask.

"Hey give me that!" One yelled at the small animal, uselessly fighting against his bonds.

The hot, dehydrated men watched with anger as the little mouse finally found one of their water bottles to feed on. Sitting down and after a few seconds of struggling against the bottle's cap, it feasting on the richly cold water it contained.

The small Pichu smacked his lips together in satisfaction, having his full. It blinked when it notice the soldiers stuck in ropes. Taking a few steps toward the Circle Agents, the electric yellow mouse tilted to one side, ear twitching, still holding the bottle. It was funny sight to see, since the water container was almost as big as the rodent.

There was silence as both the Etherian and the men watched each other. One of the humans growled threateningly under his mask.

"Give me that you little ra-"

_**BONG**_!

The particularly unfortunate soldier's head was snapped backwards as the bottle was thrown at him face on. Thankfully, it did not breaking his neck, but that easily gave him a concussion. The rest of the group, who was about to join in with the guy, immediately closed their mouths for fear of receiving the dreaded bottle as well.

They watched fearfully as the little yellow creature's body was briefly surrounded by high voltage sparks, testimony of the Etherian's anger. Little black eyes narrowed, the Pichu gave out a scornful huff, pointing his little nose up as it walked away from the stunned mortals.

Arriving at the cave entrance, it turned around and pulled its little pink tongue at the tied up soldiers before disappearing in the darkness of the tunnel.

xxxxxxxxFire Kiareth Temple's Entrancexxxxxx

"The unidentified energy has dissipated Miss Tawashi."

"_DAMMIT_!" The Viper snarled, slamming her hands on the meeting table and glaring at the poor technician sitting at the control desk, which was full of high-tech computers and other gadgets. The man looked back at the screens, trying to not piss in his pants as he felt the honey-shaded eyes drill holes in the back of his head.

Behind the dark skinned woman, Hermes gave a sight of renouncement, giving up on the hopes of Tawashi ever getting some manners.

"Elisa please don't kill the poor man. He's just doing his job and as much as I'll like to have lunch again, humans like theses aren't very common." The scientist said indifferently, tapping his nails against the metal table as he spoke.

Looking up, the brown-haired man didn't bat a eye at her following scream of anger:

"But we're surrounded by incompetent fools! We should do this alone, without the help of some idiots like him! And what about that team of rats GUN sent?! They are going to arrive at any second!"

"Judging how you are acting, seems like your last meal wasn't very screamish, is that right Elisa? As for the 'team of rats', I believe Jake was to take care of them. They are not to be taken lightly, you know." Hermes calmly said, loud enough for everyone to hear. The man took off his glasses and cleaned them thoroughly, not even bothering to look up at the hissing woman.

"Shut up you disgusting bug! Those rats won't stand a chance against me!" The blond woman roared, her goldish brown eyes almost glowing with hate.

"What is going on here?"

The cold, acidic voice made both terrorist freeze up. Both looked away from their occupations, toward the entrance of the cave.

Dr. Eleonore stood in front of them, stern, orange eyes fixed on the source of the raucous. The woman held a metal tablet filled papers against her rather large blossom, and her lab coat was open, revealing the tight black dress beneath. Terrifyingly beautiful in appearance, the aura around her was cold as ice itself, and the merciless, heartless look plastered on her face was not one of anger, but rather her everyday expression.

"Tawashi. Gilanores. Your actions are not the ones I require in here. Stop yelling, the soldiers outside need to be alert." The emotionless woman said seriously in a tone that held no place for comments. Elisa huffed, crossing her arms and skulking while Hermes looked over the technician's shoulders in hopes of seeing that interesting energy reading again.

"Also..."

The two snapped their attention back to the female scientist. Eleonore turned around vividly and started to walk away, only to stop at the entrance of the room. She turned her head slightly, allowing the other occupants of the room view of a small, shiny smile.

Those seeing this froze.

Doctor Eleonore Michan _never_ smiled. And if she _did_...

...hell was going to break lose.

"Leave the anthros alone. Once they find a way into the temple, they will make excellent research specimens."

* * *

**It's so good to be back! I've been kind of lazy lately, sorry. Anyway I expect reviews :) **


End file.
